BLOOMFIELD — Struggling in the early going against an upset-minded Portageville Bulldogs boys basketball team, the Twin Rivers Royals looked to their defense to right the ship.
The Royals allowed just 10 points combined in the second and third quarters to rally from an early 10-point deficit and take a 48-41 win over Portageville in Friday’s final first-round game at the Bloomfield Christmas Tournament.
Twin Rivers will take on the third-seeded Bernie Mules in the quarterfinals at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, while the Portageville faces off with the No. 14 Doniphan Dons in consolation action at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. Bernie downed the Dons 74-30 in another quarterfinal on Friday evening.
Entering the game as the 11th seed, the Bulldogs (2-6) took a 16-6 lead on Jack Bell’s jumper with 1:51 left in the first, but the No. 6 Royals closed out the quarter with buckets from Eli Hequembourg and Max Johnson to make it 16-10 by the end of the first.
Bell’s basket with just under five minutes left in the first half staked the Bulldogs to an 18-12 lead, but Twin Rivers (7-3) answered with a 9-0 run to take its first lead of the game.
Johnson’s layup opened the run with a little over four minutes left before the break, then Hequembourg drained a 3-pointer near the 3:39 mark to make cut the deficit to 18-17.
The Royals took a 19-18 lead on Will Parker’s layup with just over three minutes left in the first half, then Ruger Fisher’s basket with less than two minutes to go before the break capping the run for a 21-18 lead.
Twin Rivers led 23-22 at halftime, then held the Bulldogs scoreless until the final 30 seconds of the third period to take control of the game.
Parker drained triple in front of his own bench to increase the Royals’ lead to 28-22, then Devon Wilkerson added another trey in front of the Twin Rivers bench midway through the third to push the lead to 31-22.
Keaton Hicks then added a pair of layups to cap the run and push the Royals’ lead to 35-22 with less than a minute to go in the third.
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